God of War Collection (Side A)
Monday, November 16th, 2009
Posted in Reviews by Jim Plachy
This coming March, the epic God of War trilogy comes to its conclusion with the release of God of War III. Sony surely would have preferred that the game be released in time for the holidays, but thankfully they understood that quality must come before a possible bump in sales. So what was the company to do with no God of War title yet on the Playstation 3 and the holidays coming? The answer is God of War Collection. The first two God of War games remastered in high definition, and the E3 ’09 demo of God of War III on one Blu Ray disc. Ok, so the God of War III demo is a download code, but let’s not be picky. Before this review, I had never played the original God of War games since I never actually owned a Playstation 2, but as luck would have it, I had just finished the PSP prequel Chains of Olympus the day this came in the mail. So I was eager to jump in and finally experience what are considered two classic, genre-defining games.
GOD OF WAR I AND II
God of War is almost five years old and was originally released on last gen’s Playstation 2, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. While I had never played the God of War game, I’ve played games inspired by it, and I found those games to be cumbersome and frustrating. God of War rarely feels like that. The combat, a now all too common combo system that utilizes just a few buttons but recognizes the dozens of combinations those buttons can be pressed in, is satisfying. Not only because of how the combos work, but because of the impressive animations Kratos pulls off after a successful combo. The kills are gruesome and ugly but achieved with minimal effort. Kratos has the look of a murderous bad ass and controls like a murderous bad ass. Over the course of the game, you kill thousands of enemies, and only the bosses ever feel as if they pose a serious threat to the God of War.
Another element to the gameplay is puzzle solving. You enter large areas, and not only must you traverse them, you must usually turn some cranks, move some statues, activate some elevators, you get the idea. Again, it’s things you’ve seen before, but the puzzles are so beautifully designed that when you do finally get through each area’s ultimate solution, you don’t feel a sense of, “oh I’m glad that’s over” you feel like you accomplished something. Everything works and makes sense. You can feel the care and attention to detail in each space.
The objective of the game is simple, Kratos needs to get from point A to point B with the traditional monkey wrenches thrown in. However, the difference between God of War and similar titles, like the recently released Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time is that the stumbling blocks never feel arbitrary. They each fit together nicely and drive the plot. For example, to defeat the God Ares, Kratos must obtain Pandora’s Box, and most of the game is spent completing the trials that deem one worthy of Pandora’s Box. The trials are lengthy, sometimes exhausting affairs, but when you finally come into possession of the box, it all feels like it has been worth it and more than motivates you into the final battle.
The game also has a very sweeping, cinematic vibe. God of War does not allow you to control the camera. The camera goes where it wants you to see as if an invisible director is guiding you through the experience. This can make puzzles more difficult or show you the route you have to take through an area. Sometimes it can pull back, revealing the game’s show stopping set pieces. These sacrifices, taking away the control of the camera and initiating quick time events for enemy encounters, ultimately results in a better experience for the player.
God of War tells a very complete story. At the end, I felt very satisfied and wondered, why on Earth did they make a sequel to this game? Well this is where video games have an advantage over movies. Even if the video game sequel’s story isn’t as good as the first game’s, a talented enough team can take the sequel and make it play better. Not only does God of War II succeed at being a better game, but it also tells a better, fuller, much more sprawling story.
God of War II isn’t that much different than God of War, at least not in terms of mechanics. Sure there are a few new things, flying being the most notable. There are a couple of sections in the game where Kratos rides on the back of a mythical beast, and it’s up to you as the rider to take out other mythical beasts, who usually also have riders on the back of them. You also eventually earn a pair of wings, which you don’t actually fly with, but you can use them to glide to out of reach locations. You also get some new magic abilities and weapons, but they control in a very similar way to God of War’s magic and weapons.
God of War II is superior to the previous game at almost every turn. Puzzles are even more carefully designed, the combat is somehow even more satisfying, boss encounters are some of the smartest I have ever played, and The graphics are also an incredible leap over the first game. It’s hard to believe they were released only two years apart. God of War II supposedly pushed the Playstation 2′s hardware to the limits, and I could absolutely see that being the case. God of War II is the complete package, a great story, incredible mechanics that work the way they should, and it is beautiful to look at. I’m sorry it took me this long to play it because it is one of the best games I have ever played.
HOW GOOD DOES GOD OF WAR COLLECTION LOOK?
Well, now it’s time to talk about the remastering of these games. God of War looks good, but there was definitely more attention paid to the character models. Kratos looks outstanding, and the bosses also look pretty good. If you turned your head really fast while looking at the screen you might be able to fool yourself into thinking that it’s a current gen game, but the lack of textures and the fact that many of the menu options and your life bar are just kind of “embiggened” will give away that you are playing a game that debuted on old hardware. God of War II on the other hand looks gorgeous, and, to a casual observer, like you are playing a brand new game. The only thing that would give away the age of this game is some of the backgrounds, which are lacking a certain texture or fullness to them. It really won’t bother you too much, and in the end, you will come away impressed with the remastering of God of War II. If there is one complaint to make across both of the games, it’s the cut-scenes. God of War’s cut-scenes really do just look like they were “blown up,” and they have a very pixelated quality to them. They look very muddy. God of War II’s cut scenes are all over the place. The in-game cut-scenes seem to suffer from a lack of anti-aliasing with clipping going on in everything from the characters to the locations. The CGI cut scenes all look fantastic on the other hand. It’s a mixed bag, and it left me scratching my head as to why. One of the other Collection selling points is that both games now run at a solid 60 FPS. I noticed the game chug twice during God of War, but God of War II definitely seemed to be running at 60 FPS the entire time. In the end both, games run really smoothly. Finally, the game offers trophies; something obviously they didn’t do on the Playstation 2. It must have been fun for the developers to go back and do trophies for an old game. They all have humorous titles and are dealt out at a rapid pace. In my single playthrough of each game, I got 70% of God of War’s trophies and 65% of God of War II’s trophies. The game also doesn’t care what difficulty setting you are playing on. You could get all of the trophies for each game playing on Easy.
FINAL THOUGHTS
God of War Collection is an interesting experiment for Sony. With the majority of PS3s not being backwards compatible and with no software emulation in sight, this is how we are getting two classic PS2 games. There is definitely a level of polish here though. This isn’t necessarily a cheap cash in. The games have been remastered and really do feel like the “ultimate” editions. If you are like me and you have never played the God of War games, then God of War Collection is an absolute must own game. Having both of these classic games in your collection, especially these versions, is a no-brainer, especially when you factor in its lower price point. Twenty bucks apiece for two of the most well-crafted games I have ever played doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me.
PROS
-Two outstanding games on one disc
-God of War II almost looks current gen, post remastering
-$39.99
CONS
-You may have already played these games
-You may still own these games
-God of War’s cut scenes look muddy, almost unwatchable at times
FINAL VERDICT: BUY IT
Comment